Somewhere in Georgia, on the same geologic vein that stretches up to Pinehurst, North Carolina, and the barrens of New Jersey, Bobby Wolverton is busy tending to three golf courses so new that Google Maps hasn’t yet scanned every hole.
Wolverton is the director of agronomy at The Fall Line in Mauk, a private and rather isolated resort almost equidistant between Atlanta and Montgomery, Alabama, with no easy route from either. He arrived in September 2022, finished his doctorate in entomology at the University of Georgia in May 2023, laid the first sod in September 2023, and laid the last sod last October.
These have been busy and fulfilling days.
These will be busy and fulfilling years.
“I’m thinking 10 years ahead when I’m installing an irrigation system,” says Wolverton, who has previously worked at Augusta National, helped grow in Congaree Golf Club, and built Bayonne Golf Club and Hollow Brook Golf Club. “And I’m thinking 10 years ahead because I have a great crew in place, but I know that once the buzz happens, I’m going to lose who I have because they’re going to be able to jump to other big courses. And then who am I going to fill their shoes with?”
Like it is for most turf pros, labor is top of mind for Wolverton — and it will likely remain there throughout the next decade and beyond. He has a team of 68 for 46 holes — the 18-hole East and West courses and a 10-hole, 11-green short course. Twenty of them are women, whose increased participation in golf course maintenance he views as a major win for the industry. Plenty of them will be running maintenance teams of their own at other courses long before 2035. And he wants to do whatever he can to help fill future open positions at top clubs.
“Those that are really good, they’re going to keep getting better,” Wolverton says. “But I think there’s going to be a real shortage in qualified individuals who can manage these really big, upper-level courses. I think the assistant shortage is going to make the industry look a little different in 10 years as far as people being able to come in manage these clubs.”
Wolverton has a different perspective than many turf pros. Given the scope of his work, he needs to. But he also listens all the time to his wife, who works for a large bank, about the economy and its swings.
“The ability to forecast new trends — in fertilizer pricing, in chemical company price increases — will be big,” Wolverton says. “I have to print reports every month on how we’re trending and forecast how we can save some dollars. You have to be able to look at different trends in society and figure out if it’s going to affect your business or not. And you have to understand how the economy in general is going. You have to understand how your decision maker’s business is going. Are people buying homes around some of these bigger estate courses? Are you going to be looking for a job? I think some people miss the boat because they’re focused on grass so much. I know I do!” He laughs, and adds, “If I wasn’t married to a banker …”
No matter what changes over the next decade, though, Wolverton remains adamant that turf knowledge will remain paramount.
“The technology continues to get better and make our job easier,” he says. “But when the power goes out, you got to know how to take care of the grass. If I need to go out there manually with a hose, I need to know what I’m doing.”
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